Reviews with content warning for Torture - Floating Hotel

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

19 reviews

research_department's review against another edition

dark reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

3⭐️, it’s ok.
Stats: science fiction (not hard, not soft, so I guess medium), multiple third person POV/almost entirely past tense, TW: off page torture and off page murder

I have mixed feelings about this book. It has multiple POVs, changing every chapter. It’s an interesting choice, and I do feel that it has been done fairly well. Still, I think that is part of why I initially had difficulty connecting to the book, since how I connect with the characters has a huge impact on my enjoyment of a book. Also, the book is fairly slice of life at first, and so there isn’t much plot moving things forward either at first. Now, I was expecting a cozy, slice of life, optimistic, feel-good saga, with found family and a safe haven, so the initial lack of plot movement wasn’t surprising.

However, reading this, I felt like this was somewhat bait and switch. I knew that it had a mystery, but I thought it was going to be a cozy mystery. For me, it turned darker than I expected. Although the torture and murder are off page, for me (and I am sensitive to these things) it still evoked more ugliness, fear, and tension than I prefer. And if this is found family, it’s a pretty dysfunctional found family, with some real animosity within it. The safe haven is more of an illusion or a temporary reprieve.

One of the characters says: “It’s hard. Making things end in a way that’s satisfying is hard.” Which is ironic, because the ending isn’t entirely satisfying.

Still, there’s a lot to like here. As I mentioned earlier, the multiple POVs are handled really well. The characters are interesting and layered, including the late manager whom we barely meet directly. The Grand Abeona Hotel, an aging luxury space hotel is depicted vividly and lovingly, including the shabbier behind the scenes aspects. And some deeper themes are explored. Relatively early on, we start to read dispatches from a pamphlet critiquing and exposing the secrets of the oppressive Empire. More subtilely, we also see how peoples experiences and surroundings do or do not shape their personalities.

So, all told, it wasn’t a great book for me, but I think it is likely a good or great book for someone else.

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kaneebli's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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aelis_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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maggpiebymoonlight's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Overall, I liked the book, but if you're going to write a cozy book and market it as a cozy book, leave out the torture. It wasn't necessary and does damage to the book and the reader.

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bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

This is an odd book. First of all, the cover: it's a lovely cover, and fits well with the description of the Hotel Abeona at the very start of the book. The prose is also very lyrical in many places, and that fits the cover. But the plot... doesn't. The plot is a slice-of-life story, and while a slice-of-life in a spaceship hotel sounds like it should be fascinating, there was so much of the story (either present-day or flashbacks) that took place on land that after the first few chapters I had no sense of place or continuity. I lost interest multiple times in the first half of the book, and more than once I considered DNFing the book. I didn't, but I did liberally skim the second half.

What I liked:

I enjoy slow-paced, character-driven, slice-of-life stories.
I enjoyed the hotel setting.
Some of the characters (mostly Carl and Daphne) were enjoyable to read about.

What I disliked:

The mystery part of the plot revolved around a mystery that gets very loosely resolved on the 4th page from the end. I wanted more denouement.
Each chapter (except the final one) had a new main character, but I barely got a sense of personality from any of them. I definitely didn't get enough to connect with them.
There was no need to throw in a torture scene in the middle of the book. That didn't fit the tone leading up to that point, and resulted in me distrusting the book.

I had very high hopes for this one, but I didn't get what I was expecting. I thought the hotel would play a larger part of the book and be more relevant to the story instead of being important for the first chapter and then turning into a background. If you go into this book expecting something closer to what it is than I did—less whimsical, more thriller, and definitely not cozy—then you might enjoy it more.

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bel017's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

In the middle of the story there's a present-day torture scene. In the middle of a book that is heavily promoted as cosy. There are some miserable back stories, and an off-page murder, but they feel sufficiently remote. The torture scene does not, at all, feel remote. It felt out of place and vicious.

I liked the atmosphere of the Albion, that faded grandeur. Lovely gentle world building there. And the ever changing viewpoint was less disorienting than I expected. Overall--other than the abovementioned scene--I enjoyed it, the slow pace was pleasantly soporific. There are a lot of loose ends, but I wasn't deeply invested in the characters so that was fine. It was a nice place to pass some time.

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mirrorstarweb's review against another edition

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mysterious

Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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skipjack's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Best fiction book I’ve read this year.

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pageheart's review against another edition

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tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This is marketed as cozy and it isn't. It has some cozy aspects but it has a lot of moments that really arnt.
Characters were interesting but the plot wasn't as fleshed out

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milliemudd's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

3.25

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